Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar has been announced as one of the headliners for Move Afrika, a new live event taking place in Rwanda. The festival, which will move across the continent, has been organized by Global Citizen and Lamar’s creative imprint pgLang.
The event will commence on December 6th at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. More countries will be added to the schedule each year as the new tour grows and generates more revenue.
In a statement released by pgLang and Global Citizen, the project’s aims were explained in detail with the statement reading, “Move Afika aims to bring job opportunities to Africa by introducing a live music touring circuit to the continent. In addition to stimulating the local economy with gigs for local artists and crews, the shows will highlight Global Citizen’s mission of eradicating poverty and bringing awareness to women and girls’ health, the climate crisis, food security, and more.”
The statement also addressed the plans moving forward concerning festival locations, clarifying, “Rwanda will host the shows for the next five years, with additional countries to be added to the touring schedule every year. The organization aims to expand to five countries by 2025.”
Lamar is far from the only artist performing. However, both pgLang and Global Citizen have no intention of importing US artists to tour the continent but instead have unveiled that more regional artists will be added to the line-up.
Kendrick is not the only artist involved in providing live music to Africans. Chance The Rapper had great success hosting his Black Star Line Festival in Ghana earlier this year. He has recently announced that he is looking to host the festival in Jamaica next time.
Kendrick will most likely be performing material from his last album, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, which he released last year and may team up with Baby Keem to perform ‘The Hillbillies’ or have a surprise joint performance of the ‘America Has a Problem’ remix with Beyoncé.